COTAC News

Heritage 2020 is the sector’s collaborative initiative to sustain and promote the historic environment of England, encourage access and broaden knowledge for a variety of audiences.

 Many organisations within the heritage sector are concerned at the loss of heritage skills and expertise working within, or advising Local Authorities.

 The Heritage 2020 Capacity Building working group seeks expressions of interest in a project to update an existing list of statutory services imposed by Government on Local Authorities, as they relate directly or indirectly to heritage.

 This piece of work will help focus those bodies on the duties imposed on them by Parliament and, therefore, their need to retain the skills and expertise necessary to successfully discharge them. The vision is a sustainable network of local authority expertise available to developers and communities. 

 There is no fee for this work. A full brief is available at: http://www.heritage2020.net/ 

Expressions of interest are invited by 17.00 on 5th July to heritage2020@theheritagealliance.org.uk

The Universidad de Navarra Presents 5th Historic Mortars Conference HMC 2019, to take place 19-21 June, 2019.

See here for more details.

Dig deep into the history of places in Scotland and beyond to discover fascinating insights into hidden stories and histories of buildings, towns and cities.

Explore the HES PastMap here.

Stop what you’re doing for a minute and think about architecture, design and engineering in Scotland. What were the first images that came to your head?

Was it the stunning Forth Road Bridge, or perhaps now the Queensferry Crossing? Did you look up to the grandiose and imposing Georgian buildings, townhouses and mansions found throughout the country? Or perhaps you thought about the sleek architectural innovations of Charles Rennie Mackintosh?

Scotland has played a huge part in the world of architecture, design and engineering. However, there’s a type of structure found only in Scotland which has all these features.

These buildings have an incredible physical presence, and could be described a marvel of engineering legacy. They continue to puzzle and cause debate among architects, engineers and archaeologists.

We are of course talking about brochs!

See here for more information.

World Heritage UK is pleased to announce that registration is now open for its 4th Annual Conference, ‘Setting the Scene for World Heritage’, taking place at the Tower of London UNESCO World Heritage Site on the 15th and 16th October 2018. Please note the change of date from previous announcements, made to accommodate the very best available facilities at this prestigious venue.

The link to the registration webpage is  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/setting-the-scene-for-world-heritage-tickets-46877370477?

UNESCO World Heritage Sites are the historic wonders of the world and the jewels in the crown of any nation. The United Kingdom is blessed with 31 of them and each year World Heritage UK celebrates these gems with a conference. The theme for this year’s event will be ‘Setting the Scene for World Heritage’.

Many of our World Heritage Sites are facing management issues, not only from within their boundaries, but from external pressures beyond, which can be hard to control. Here, delegates will look at the setting in which a World Heritage Site exists, issues with buffer zones and examining how best to deal with Outstanding Universal Value in the margins.

We will be looking in detail at controversial urban examples from Liverpool, Edinburgh and London, but will also examine contentious cultural landscapes such as Stonehenge, natural World Heritage Sites and those with issues on the coast.

The Minister for the Arts, Heritage and Tourism, Michael Ellis MP, has accepted our invitation to speak at the conference and he will be joined by Colonel Richard Harrold, Director of the Tower Group, Simon Hickman from Historic England, urban designer Pete Swift from Planit IE and Rob Burns from Urban Design and Heritage as confirmed speakers so far.

The conference will be delivered in association with Historic Royal Palaces and with support from Historic England and Border Archaeology. We expect to continue the success of previous years with an exciting programme of speakers and side events – perhaps an evening boat trip on the River Thames and behind-the-scenes tour at the Tower of London. More detail on these to follow.

There are only 150 tickets available for this conference, including a small allocation at a reduced rate for students and Voting Members of World Heritage UK. You are advised to book early to avoid disappointment.

Bannockburn House lies close to the M9 on the edge of Stirling.

It has long been regarded as an important building but has been inaccessible for over 30 years. It has also been on the Buildings at Risk Register since it began in 1990.

When it came on the market recently, we had a golden opportunity to get a better understanding of this important but very private house. Whilst the community was negotiating the acquisition, I was able to undertake research into its complex history.

Simon Green explains how he re-discovered the story of a hidden gem, Bannockburn House, and reveals techniques you can use to research historic buildings yourself.  Find out more here.

The 2017 ICOMOS Annual Report can be accessed via Issuu here.

York Minster is hosting a stone carving festival 17 to 19 August this year. If you want to participate, click here to register. There are 80 bankers available and you have to pay £50 to reserve one of them. If you don’t turn up, you forfeit the £50. They will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis and you have until 31 March to register.

If you want to communicate, email John David, York Minster’s Master Mason.

Masons, carvers, sculptors and stonework apprentices from across the UK and Europe are invited to take part in this celebration of the craft of stone carving.

The theme for the festival will be All creatures great and small. Participants will be able to use Ancaster Hard White limestone and Magnesian limestone, which will be prepared as blocks measuring 200 x 200 x 300mm.

The finished carvings will be auctioned on the Sunday afternoon and a prize will be presented to what is judged to be the best piece – and the judges will be those taking part.

Toilets, showers and basic accommodation, including bed space (bring your own sleeping bags or covers) will be provided in the Minster School Hall and is included in the £50 registration fee. If you want to stay somewhere else, a list of accommodation in York can be found on the Visit York website. The registration fee also includes a festival T-shirt, a BBQ on the Friday evening (17 August) and food throughout the weekend. Carving starts at 8am on the Saturday (18 August) and should be finished in time for the auction at 3.30pm on Sunday (19 August).

After 10 years of European funding, 350 students and 65 countries, applications for the Advanced Masters in Structural Analysis of Monuments and Historical Constructions are opened up to July 20, 2018. This is the leading international course on conservation of heritage structures, winner of the 2017 European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage “Europa Nostra”, and a unique opportunity to meet people from all over the world.

This Master Course, which is running its 11th Edition, is organized by a Consortium of leading European Universities/Research Institutions in the field, composed by University of Minho (coordinating institution, Portugal), the Technical University of Catalonia (Spain), the Czech Technical University in Prague (Czech Republic), the University of Padua (Italy) and the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Czech Republic).

The course combines the most recent advances in research and development with practical applications.

A significant number of scholarships, ranging from 4,000 to 13,000 Euro, are available to students of any nationality.

Please find full details on the MSc programme, as well as electronic application procedure, on the website www.msc-sahc.org